To Catch a Bird
by WiseSunny
Summary: In a world of soul marks, Tegan thinks she has found her soulmate in Robin. Dick Grayson believes he has found his soulmate in a girl, but she doesn't know him. Dick loves Tegan, but Tegan loves Robin.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hi guys! First fanfic ever, super exciting! Please bear with me, I'm still trying to navigate the website, and so updates may be slow. I don't have a beta, so please keep that in mind when you come upon my inevitable grammar mistakes. :)**

 **Also I appreciate reviews and I don't mind some criticism (I need to improve somehow) but no flames please!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or any of its characters.**

Chapter 1: Disappointment

"Are you alright?" The man standing across from Tegan looked worried as she sat up slowly from the floor. "Did I hurt you? I really am sorry."

Fighting down disappointment and sitting back on her train seat, Tegan shook her head. "I'm fine, sir. I was my fault; I'm always clumsy."

Glancing back at the girl to make sure she was okay, the man continued on his way towards the bathroom at the back of the train. He didn't notice the slight glare Tegan sent at his back.

Tegan knew it was uncalled for, but she couldn't help but feel angry. It wasn't the poor man's fault. She had walked into him. No, what she was angry about was the way he apologized. "Are you alright?" he had said to her, and as always when someone said that to her, her heart leaped into her throat, and for a few seconds she felt hopeful. But only a moment later she was disappointed as he continued by asking if he hurt her.

To anyone else, the stranger's apology would have seemed fine. Tegan could tell the man was truly genuine. To be honest with herself, she actually more angry at herself. To be specific, angry at the two lines of writing that encircled her thin wrist: her soulmark.

It had appeared when she was only four, something that Tegan remembered being delighted about at the time. Most kids' soulmarks, if they were going to get on, didn't appear until at least six or seven.

Tegan had assumed that the early marking would mean she would meet her soulmate soon. Yet here she was, 17 years old, with no family left, no close friends, and no soulmate.

When she first received her mark, she had made her mother read it to her out loud every night. She had loved hearing the words and couldn't wait until someone said them out loud to her. As she grew older though, she began to realize how annoying her marks were.

The soulmarks that always appeared on a child's body were always the first two sentences that their soulmate would ever say to them. If you didn't have a soulmark, then you either had no perfect match, or there were to many people that would fit perfectly with you. Thus, having a mark or not having a mark, depending on which way you looked at it, never caused any discrimination or grievance towards others. It was just a fact of life. Carmen has green eyes. Braiden can roll his tongue. Tegan has a soulmark. It was just normal.

Tegan liked the idea of having a soulmate. She wanted to meet her perfect match. It was just so hard to wait, especially when she had had so many false calls.

Her first sentence was "Are you alright?" And since she was so clumsy, many people's first words to her were that exact sentence. And every single time, her heart started to pound, she became light-headed with excitement and hope that this person would be her soulmate. And then they would crush her dreams. They would apologize. They would make excuses. Or they would ignore her.

But never had someone actually ever said the second sentence. Or phrase really. It was only three words: "Sorry, stupid question."

And now as she was on the train towards crime-ridden Gotham City for her new internship, she was plagued with disappointment as yet another person had raised her hopes only to smash them on the floor afterwards.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Ahh! Two chapters in one day! Again, this is unbetad (is that a word?) and so while I like some criticism, no flames please! Thanks to all who have read/reviewed, I appreciate the time you spend on this story.**

 **Disclamer: I want it. But I don't own it. :(**

Two months had passed. Tegan's daily schedule had become routine. She woke up, ate breakfast at a small cafe down the street, took the city bus to Wayne Industries where she and Samantha, her fellow intern, assisted Ms. Creefy until noon, and took her lunch break. She and Samantha would take the bus to the mall, find the nearest food court and stuff themselves with food. They would walk back together, finish their work, and go home.

While Tegan wanted to hang out with Sammy more, she knew that the older girl had her own work to do as well. Tegan was officially still a high school student, and while the work she did was a lot harder than most other kids' her age, she still had to take the online courses in order to get her graduation certificate.

Samantha took night classes at Gotham University and so despite the fact that she had free time in her afternoons, she usually just took a long nap so as to have enough energy to keep going later on.

Because of this, Tegan's social life was close to nonexistent. She worked most of the day, and as soon as she got home, she had to do her homework quickly to be ready for her online classes.

Perhaps this was part of the reason Tegan felt so removed from the rest of Gotham City. Despite having lived in an apartment with a beautiful view of the park for almost ten weeks, Tegan had yet to feel as if she belonged.

Her lack of friends also had an effect on how she viewed the city. Usually having friends helps one to see things from another point of view. Without friends at her back though, Tegan was feather biased; she saw a crime-ridden city with an obsession for superheroes.

Superheroes. That was the other thing that set Tegan apart from the rest of Gotham. While Tegan had grown up surrounded by adults telling her to be responsible and act safely, the people of Gotham wasted no time in telling her of the heroes that they had seen. They were in fearful awe of the man dressed as a bat who took down terrible villains in the dark. They spoke in wonder of the boy with him in traffic light colors always ready with a laugh or joke. The Dark Knight. The Boy Wonder. Batman. Robin.

Tegan had trouble forming an opinion. She understood the reasoning of the superheroes. For some reason mentally unstable criminals gravitated towards Gotham, and without Batman and Robin, the city would have likely been destroyed years ago. While the police force wasn't completely corrupt, it was shady enough that small time thieves and criminals would often escape notice. It was only due to the superheroes that criminal activity promised punishment.

On the other hand, they were terrible role models. Robin, and the other sidekicks that had been spotted occasionally, were demonstrating that it was alright for children to run off in the night, hurt and injure people, and break into buildings as long as it was in the name of justice. Just because they put on a mask, superheroes don't have the right to commit criminal activity themselves. Hacking, spying, attacking people with little evidence; superheroes did not have a right to do these things, and yet they somehow seemed to believe they did.

Yes, Tegan believed the superheroes did what was right in the sense of justice, but she didn't yet know if what they didn't was right in the sense of morals.

And that was the problem. Gotham was fine with the heroes. Tegan wasn't sure about them. And until she was fine with them she would have trouble fitting in.

As Tegan looked out the window of Wayne Industries late in the morning, she continued to reflect. She had never met any heroes. She had never even seen Batman or Superman or Wonder Woman or any superhero that the people seemed to love. And so it was difficult to make any permanent decision.

Sorting papers, she eventually decided to go the route that many teenagers take when uncertain; she decided to pretend the problem didn't exist. In her mind, there were no superheroes.

And so when some idiot took over the loudspeaker and started ranting about catching a baby birdie and let out a maniacal laugh that sent shivers down Tegan's spine, Tegan reacted differently then everyone else. The others screamed about someone named the Joker. They cried for Batman and Robin. The begged for the Justice League to save them.

And Tegan? Tegan picked up her cell phone and tried to dial 911.

It didn't do much good though. Somewhere in the building, something exploded and Tegan quickly found herself falling out the window without her phone. As the wind around her picked up as she fell, she regretted not calling the police sooner.

Surely she would die when she landed but at least if she got the call off, the police could rescue some people. And so as Tegan approached the pavement, her last thought were about police and legal law enforcement, not heroes.

Until someone caught her. To be specific, a superhero caught her. To be even more specific, Robin caught her.

Darn. Now she couldn't pretend superheroes weren't real, one was literally holding her and had just saved her from certain death. Death. Death. It was starting to sink in. She had almost died. Starting to hyperventilate, she almost missed his question.

"Are you alright?" The young man, boy really, was looking worried. As she continued to stare at him, Robin shook his head self-deprecatingly. "Sorry, silly question."

He led her over to where most of the civilians where gathering. "You'll be okay in a minute. Just keep breathing and soon it will seen better. I've got to go help Batman now."

And just like that he was gone. Tegan still couldn't control her breathing. But it was for a completely different reason now. He had said her words. Her soul marks. She looked for him in the now burning building but she couldn't see him. He was gone.


End file.
